8. Alerts

Alerts keep people informed without them having to watch lists. Start with a few alerts that matter and add more once you see how they read.

Alerts and triggered events

Where to find it: Admin › Alerts › Alerts and triggered events

Alerts send an email, post to a webhook, or record a note when something happens to a record: it is created, changed, deleted, reaches a status, or has a custom field value changed. Alerts can also run on a schedule for promise dates and expiration dates; those run from the daily job, or at once with the Run due button on the Alerts page, and each fires at most once a day per document.

Alerts fire from sales orders, quotes, ship docs, customer returns, purchase orders, receivers, vendor returns, adjustments, transfers, work orders, repair orders, and payments, and from items, customers, vendors, locations, contacts, and carts for the triggers that apply to them. Every alert that fires is listed in the alert history with what was sent and whether it worked. Email alerts send only when company mail is connected.

Who can change these settings: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.

Search

Chooses which column the alert search box looks in: Name, Type, Run after, User, or Related to. Pick the column, type in the box, and click Search.

• Default: Name.
• Who can change it: Anyone who can open the Alerts page.
• Example: Related to, with "warehouse@" to find alerts sent to the warehouse.
• Which should I choose? Name for most searches; Related to to find who an alert is sent to.
• Caution: The search looks only in the chosen column.

Name, Description, and Active

The alert's name (used as the start of the email subject), a description added to the message, and whether it runs. Untick Active to pause an alert.

• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: "Big order": Description "Check stock before approving".

Type

The kind of record the alert watches, such as sales order, purchase order, or ship doc. Choose one type per alert.

• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: sales order.

Run after

When the alert runs: Create, Change, Delete, Change Status, Promise Date, Schedule, Custom Fields, or Expiration. Delete runs when a record of the alert's type is deleted, and Custom Fields runs when a custom field value stored on the record changes. Use Change Status for most workflow alerts.

Promise Date and Schedule look at open sales orders and purchase orders whose promise date is today or past.

Expiration looks at lots and serials whose expiry date is today or past; it is offered only while Use expiration dates is on.

Delete runs when a document is deleted, when an applied payment is deleted, and when a contact, location, or cart is deleted. Items, customers, vendors, leads, and counts cannot be deleted, so a Delete alert on those types never runs; use Change or Custom Fields for them instead.

A Delete alert's email template still fills in {{number}}, {{party}}, {{date}}, {{total}}, and {{docLabel}}, from the record as it was just before it was deleted.

Custom Fields runs when a stored custom field value changes, including formula results and changes made by bulk edit. Saving the same value again does not run it. The message names the field with its old and new values, such as "Order type changed from Standard to Rush."

Custom fields on document lines do not run Custom Fields alerts; the alert watches fields on the record itself.

• Default: Create.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Change Status with Status Shipped to tell sales an order went out.
• Which should I choose? Change Status for workflow steps, Delete to learn when documents are removed, and Custom Fields to follow a value your team tracks.

Status

For Change Status, the status that fires the alert. Choose Any status to run on every status change.

• Default: Any status.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Shipped.

Related to (email)

The address the alert is sent to. Leave it blank to send to the company email, or, if that is blank, to the person who made the change.

• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: sales@yourcompany.com.

For webhook only and Webhook address

Sends the alert to a web address instead of email: Orders2Ship posts the alert name, document type, number, party, trigger, and status as JSON, plus the date, total, and changed fields when they apply. Use it to feed another system.

• Default: Off.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: https://example.com/hooks/alert.

Activity type

Email sends the message; Note only records it in the alert history without sending. Use Note while testing a new alert.

• Default: Email.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Note for a trial week, then Email.

Form template to export and attach

Attaches the document as a PDF printed with the chosen form. Use it to send customers or staff the document itself.

• Default: None.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Attach "Invoice - standard" when a ship doc is shipped.

Email template

Uses an active email template for the subject and body instead of the standard alert text. Choose the template for the same document type.

• Default: Alert text.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Invoice template for a ship doc alert.

Form template

Prints the alert's PDF with this form when Form template to export and attach is empty. When that attach field is set, the attached form is the PDF.

• Default: None.
• Who can change it: Roles with the Company Edit right. Out of the box that is Admin and GM. Other roles see the page read-only.
• Example: Invoice - standard, with attach left at None.